National City State of Mind
by wixley-kryptonese
Summary: Unique comes to CatCo for an interview about the New Directions Reunion Tour with Cat Grant, and accidentally reunites with Marley Rose...in front of everyone in her office. Who know her by her real name, Kara Danvers. Pre-Supercat
When Kara crash-landed on Earth, she did go to the Danvers'…but at one point, she wasn't with them. She was with Millie Rose – Jeremiah Danvers died while working for a branch of the government, and Eliza couldn't deal with Alex, let alone her barely literate alien foster-child. So Kara went into the system, and was picked up by Millie Rose while Alex went to college. She kept in touch with Alex, obviously – they were sisters, no matter what – but she loved her life with Millie, despite the cutbacks and the charity shop clothes, even called her 'mom'.

Millie helped her become fluent in English, and for Kara – officially called Marley Kara Rose, to get any potential alien bounty hunters off her trail, and to just make herself feel better in a time where the name 'Kara' made her want to curl up and die – she found solace in Glee Club. She made so many friends, and had her heart broken more times than she could remember – and she discovered the reality that were some humans, more specifically, the manipulative, lying heart of Kitty. She blew her powers by doing what she said, and it was after Glee Club was disbanded that Alex told her to stop pretending to be an average student. Kryptonians learnt the electron wave functions for Kryptonian covalent bonding at five years old, by Rao.

The cataclysm for Kara to reappear was Millie's heart-attack and subsequent death. Marley Rose cried for her mother, and Alex attended her funeral with her, before arranging for Kara Danvers to take her exams and get into university under a scholarship. She left her life in Lima, Ohio, left her friends and came to National City, trying to forget the past – and trying to get the brown hair dye out of her hair. It was safe to say that it took a long time, as she hated cutting her hair, and she couldn't stand – absolutely _could not stand_ – the smell of the stripping products. But luckily, she was blonde again by the time she took over the role of Supergirl – and thank Rao, did she look so much different. There weren't enough close-up shots of her face for anyone to connect the flying wonder to a star of William McKinley High School for the Arts' Glee Club, New Directions.

Or so she thought.

It had been a normal day in the offices of CatCo Media, and Kara had just finished reviewing Miss Grant's itinerary for the next month, with one week of for Christmas starting the next day, when she smelt it – that oh so familiar scent, one she couldn't place. And then she heard her voice, calling her name. Or rather…

"Marley? Marley Rose!"

Kara swung, eyes wide as she saw the one and only Unique Adams standing in front of the doors to Miss Grant's office. "Unique, what are you doing here?"

Unique came forwards, hugging her tightly. Kara hugged back, making sure not to crush her. "God girl, you just up and disappeared, and then I see you on the covers of the Tribune while on tour-"

"Tour?" Kara looked up at Unique, still clutching her tightly. "You're on tour?"

Unique looked at her with a plaintive face, " _Girl_ , the _club_ is on tour. New Directions _Reunion_ – you, Quinn Fabray and dead Finn are the only ones not to show up. Even Schuester's there! And this chick called Holly Holliday – she was Schuester's girlfriend – and another old lady called April, who got Kurt drunk once during schooltime," Unique confided, as Kara took this in.

"Unique-"

"Keira, what's going on?" Miss Grant interrupted. Kara glanced back at her.

"Miss Grant, this is my friend from High School, Unique Adams-"

"Unique _Robins_ , Marley-Mars!" Kara twisted, face lighting up.

"You got married?! Oh my god, who?"

Unique rolled her eyes, and Kara just noticed the crowd watching through the glass doors, _right_ before she spoke again. "Later – now _you_ tell me why the hell you didn't say you were an alien, girl! And why the name Supergirl? And what's with the glasses, you don't need glasses." And then she plucked the frames right off her face.

Right in front of everyone in the office.

Right in front of Cat Grant.

Silence took over the office as Unique waited for an answer, trying on her glasses and scrunching her nose up.

"These don't do nothing – they're just glass. Real clear glass, but still. So, you coming to the New Directions tour? We're doing some of the old favourites – and I'm sure everyone would love to see us going at Pink again. Remember that, girl?" Unique sighed, "We could even do the dance routine – you remember it?"

"I could never forget," she replied, biting her lip as she glanced nervously at Winn and James, who were looking at Unique with disbelieving expressions. "Unique, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I've got an interview with some chick called Cat," she brushed it off, "We're popularising the concerts. I just got here today, to get in an article on the Tribune, to boost sales – the others should be here tomorrow morning, for the show. I've got to tell them you're doing it – they can add you to the billboards for National City! I'll have to get Fabio to take your picture, and Marcy to get your outfit ready-"

"Stop right there, Unique," Kara finally interrupted, putting her hand on her phone as she started texting, taking her glasses back and putting them on. "You have no idea what you've just done."

Unique scrunched her nose up, before Miss Grant spoke up.

"I knew it. I knew you faked it." Kara winced as she heard her get up from her desk, coming over to her and taking her shoulder, turning her. "How were you in two places at once?"

"One wasn't me," she looked to her feet, only for Miss Grant to take her chin, lifting it up, looking at her critically. Worries filled her, ones she thought gone. Would she publish it? Would she tell the world her identity?

"Mrs Robin called you Marley Rose. That will now be Supergirl's civilian identity – you, Kara Danvers, will be kept out of it." Kara's eyes widened.

"Miss Grant?"

The Queen of All Media let go of her, looking to Unique. "Sit. We'll have our interview, and I'll add in _Miss Rose_ 's name," she glanced at Kara, "as a National City-only addition. Kara's too important to CatCo to take away for the rest of your _tour_."

"Kara?" Unique questioned. "What kind of name's Kara?"

"My real one," Kara breathed, "Sorry. I was under…witness protection, you could say."

"But what about your mom…no offense girl, but Millie Rose…" Unique winced herself, as Kara swallowed.

"She was my mother, no question. She taught me English, and loved me for who I was. But I have another family – I have a sister, called Alex, and another foster-mom, called Eliza. My foster-dad died." She looked to her hands, wishing this came out in a different environment – her apartment, a street, anywhere else that wasn't a _newspaper_.

"Oh, sweetheart," Unique comforted, hugging her again. "I'm sorry. I've disrupted your life, or something, haven't I honey?"

"Yes," Miss Grant replied for her, "now let go of my assistant and sit at the desk. Keira, I need you to pick up Carter from school today. I'm not going to make it. And buy us two tickets for the New Directions show – I'm sure that Carter would love to see his favourite superhero on stage." She smirked. "I hope he won't be disappointed by your singing voice."

Kara flushed, before Unique came to her defence, boasting, "Marley was the best we had! The new Rachel Berry of New Directions!"

"Rachel Berry? The Broadway performer, and the star of that utterly _ridiculous_ soap?"

"Yeah, that Rachel Berry." Unique confirmed.

Miss Grant smirked, looking directly at Kara, "You have a lot to live up to."

Kara, at that, felt a fire in her chest, because _Rao, that stupid_ _ **smirk**_ and _I_ _ **am**_ _as good as Rachel Berry_. "Don't worry," she said, confidence shining through, "I won't disappoint."

Miss Grant hummed, "Indeed. Now go pick up Carter. Mrs Robin, sit."

* * *

The reunion wasn't what she expected.

New Directions had certainly aged in seven years, but they were all just the same, plus some new additions. Rachel Berry herself had a daughter, and so did both of the two Puck's, and Artie had two sons, surprisingly, while Brittany and Santana were going through adoption proceedings. The rest of the club were still without kids, like her, but most were attached to someone or other – though surprisingly, Kitty was married to her work as a headmistress of an arts school that she founded, taking a sabbatical so she could join the cross-America tour. It was lovely to see Mr Schuester again, as well, and their first words were in Spanish, to show that out of all her fellow New Directioners, she had actually bothered to remain fluent.

In any case though, they were all happy to see her though, even the Glee Club members she hadn't met before. The set-list for National City was in four parts, for four nights, and upon her appearance they'd added some new songs – ones they'd left out because she took the lead. The list was compiled of 'Don't Stop Believing', 'Somebody to Love', 'Bust Your Windows', 'Dream On', 'Defying Gravity', 'Toxic', 'Back to Black', 'Singing in the Rain/Umbrella', 'Turning Tables', 'A House is Not a Home', 'As If We Never Said Goodbye', 'Fix You', 'Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F)', 'Perfect', 'Man In the Mirror', 'Do They Know It's Christmas', 'Fighter', 'Never Say Never', 'It's Time', 'New York State of Mind', 'Chasing Pavements', 'Everytime', 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World', 'Blow Me One Last Kiss', 'Superman', 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas', 'Wrecking Ball', 'All or Nothing', 'On Our Way', 'The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)', 'Happy', 'Wake Me Up', 'Brave', 'Cool Kids', 'Rather Be', 'The Final Countdown', 'We Built This City', 'Take Me to Church', 'Popular', 'Daydream Believer', and finally – 'I Lived'. Forty-one songs. It was a lot, but Kara could deal with it – half were solos, or duets, or small groups anyway.

What she was not expecting, was for, a few minutes before the show, for Ryder to give a proper hello.

Immediately, Kara stared, not understanding what she was seeing.

"Adam?"

Ryder stopped, staring at her. His face twisted, before his eyes widened too. "Kara?"

Kara immediately put a hand over his mouth, "It's Marley right now, for pretty obvious reasons."

"You're Supergirl," he replied, pulling her hand away from his mouth. "I think I have some explaining to-"

"Your mother and Carter are in the audience," she interrupted. Immediately his eyes widened.

"What?"

"Yeah, they asked me to get tickets, for the entire National City tour. They'll have to watch us…you know, I didn't even recognise you…the hair…" she motioned to his hair, which was swept over his face like it used to be. "It was shorter the last time we saw each other."

"Yeah, it changes my entire face…I'm surprised I didn't recognise you, either."

Kara laughed suddenly, "You're doing Superman with Jake again, aren't you? I didn't realise it would be you, when I saw the set-list. Promise not to get into a fist-fight again, please?" Adam couldn't contain a slight smirk. She sighed. "Adam-"

"No, it's Ryder right now, remember, _Marley?_ " Kara gave a slight glare, before hugging him tightly.

"It's good to see you again."

He hugged her back, "Yeah, you too. Now lets get ready to go," he pulled back, taking her hand and leading her over to the Club, who were all in a giant circle around Schue.

"Okay, guys, National City is out there, and while we're here, we're joined with one of the few members we couldn't originally get ahold of – everyone welcome back, Marley Rose!" He gestured to her widely, cheers escaping them before the music started up. "Okay, places!" Immediately there was a giant shuffle, and Kara ran to position, thrumming with excitement as the music boomed, everything finely in tune, and in the crowd she could _hear them-_

" _Mom, it's starting! Supergirl's going to be on stage!_ " Carter whispered excitedly, Cat humming under her breath, eating ice-cream. And then she heard them across the hall, Kara sucking in a breath, deliberately humming at super-speed to warm up her vocal cords as Astra talked to Alex.

" _She was an amazing singer as a child – sang before she talked_ ," Astra told her partner, Alex laughing.

" _Then you're going to be amazed by her now, Astra._ "

Then she stepped out onto the stage, inwardly hating on the microphone feedback as they started the intro for 'Don't Stop Believing'.

* * *

Leaving the auditorium with Carter was surreal, in Cat's mind. Kara – her assistant – had been on stage, and she had been _good_ …not that she'd tell Kara that. She hadn't done much tonight, most of her work being background. Carter didn't care though, and neither did half the audience – she was Supergirl, and that was all that mattered.

Getting outside, she was swarmed with paparazzi asking about 'Marley Rose', and if she truly was Supergirl's alter-ego. Cat told them it was her week off. She needed it.

Especially seeing as Adam had been on stage too, singing right beside Kara, dancing and singing and looking at her like they were old friends. She needed her damn week off.


End file.
